ICL News reporter Heloisa Villela gives us the details as the final stage of the historic trial that will render the verdict on the coup attempt case of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has already begun. teleSUR
00:00In other informations, the final stage of the historic trial that will render the verdict on the coup attempt case of former Brazilian President Haid Bolsonaro has already begun.
00:11From Brasilia, journalist Eloisa Vigela gives us the details.
00:17Hello, hello listeners of Telesur. This is Eloisa Vigela and I'm in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.
00:25Right behind me, you see the federal Supreme Court and here today we had one more step done in the trial that is deciding if former President of Brazil, Jair Messias Bolsonaro, attempted a coup to stay in power despite having lost the election.
00:46Today, it was the time to listen to the final arguments of the defendants, their lawyers.
00:56So they took the chance to defend their clients for an hour each one.
01:02Four of them presented their defenses yesterday and today we had the last four.
01:08We heard from the lawyer for President, former President Bolsonaro and the lawyers for three generals.
01:18So in this trial, it's a very historical moment because we are, for the first time, putting on trial a former president and the very high ranked generals of the armed forces.
01:35Today, the lawyer for Bolsonaro tried two different approaches.
01:41First, he was trying to convince the judges that the testimony of Bolsonaro's main guy, Mauro Cid, his right arm, we can say that,
01:56the guy that was working with him every day, solving all his problems, taking care of the situation in the palace,
02:05he gave testimony saying that Bolsonaro did call the command forces and the minister of defense to discuss the possibility of adopting special measures
02:21that would put the military in charge of the country.
02:27So, his lawyer, Bolsonaro's lawyer, tried to sustain the argument that the testimony of this guy should not be considered
02:40because he was invited back again and again to finish his testimony and he would remember things later,
02:50a few months later, and give details that he didn't give in the first, second or third time.
02:55So, that was the main line of Bolsonaro's defense.
02:59The problem with that argument is the accusations against Bolsonaro do not depend exclusively on the testimony of Mauro Cid,
03:12because Bolsonaro himself, here at the Supreme Court, said that he did have a meeting with the high-ranking commanders of the armed forces
03:25to discuss those special measures, although there was no reason in the country for that.
03:33He was exploiting all the possibilities not to hand over power, and that's the main accusation against him.
03:41So, he confessed to these discussions, we don't need Mauro Cid's testimony to prove that point.
03:50So, his lawyer, although it doesn't matter that, his lawyer still worked very hard to disqualify the testimony of Mauro Cid,
04:02and that was his main defense.
04:04But, we also heard from lawyers of the other three generals that are also trying to disprove the accusations against them.
04:14Mauro Cid's testimony was also very much fought against by the lawyer of General Braga Neto,
04:22which was running as vice president for Bolsonaro in the last election.
04:28The testimony of Mauro Cid said that he received some money from this general Braga Neto
04:38that was supposed to be given to people that were organizing protests and things like that.
04:45So, he also tried to disqualify Mauro Cid's testimony.
04:50Now, we are going to wait and see what the judges have to say.
04:54We have five judges in this trial, and next week, on Tuesday and Wednesday,
05:00they're going to start stating their votes.
05:03The first one will be Alexandre de Moraes, which is the minister, the judge, in charge of the case.
05:12And then, the other four will follow him, and we cannot wait to see what they have to say.
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